After somehow surviving my first article without being hammered, I thought I’d have another go (thanks for the kind words on that by the way!).
This time it’s about the new home kit, and before anyone reaches for their keyboard, let’s get one thing out of the way: I think it looks lovely. They’ve done a good job getting the sponsor to fit in too as that was definitely a concern for some people, then add to that white shorts and well done!
Anyway, this is an article about the kit – not if it looks good,
moreso who gets to wear it.
One of the best things about football is that children don’t just get to see and support their heroes each week, they can become them.
Give a seven-year-old a football and they’re not just kicking it around the garden, they’re developing a traction engine of a foot to become Lewis Wing, or turning into Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan, smashing a ball through their kitchen window in Tilehurst.
We’ve all been there. Wembley Singles or whatever you called it, and being our favourite player is great!
To do that, they want to look the part. They want the shirt with their favourite player’s name on the back and, until maybe they’re a little older, they probably want the full kit. The shorts. The socks. The lot.
They don’t want to look a bit like their heroes. They want to look exactly like them, and that’s where reality hits.
A junior shirt itself is £50. By the time you’ve added the shorts (£26.50), socks (£16), a name and number (£18) and the EFL badge (£6), you’re looking at £116.50. The adult pricing isn’t much better at £60 for a shirt, but I’m focussing on the junior aspect here as that is likely the point that will drive the difficult conversations in many households, especially mine, where there are three little would-be Royals.
I know there will be shouts of: “They don’t need the shorts,” “they don’t need a name,” “they don’t need the badge.” But that’s really not the point here. How have we got to a point where individuals at clubs – many of whom will undoubtedly have kids – are comfortable asking their fans for £100+ to dress a child?
Then there’s the reality for families with more than one child.
It becomes an even tougher conversation if you’ve got two or three children. Suddenly you’re looking at £100 or £150 just for the shirts. If they all want the full kit, you’re into eye-watering territory: £232 or £348!
That’s before you’ve grabbed some food on match day, got a programme (oh… never mind) or paid for the parking.
The timing makes it even harder because, for almost everyone reading this, life simply isn’t cheap. For many households, luxuries have quietly become difficult conversations, and at least £50 on a football shirt for your child will likely enter that fray.
The argument of them getting a lot of wear from it doesn’t really hold either: modern football shirts aren’t exactly built to last.
Sponsors have an annoying habit of peeling off after a handful of washes and, because kids are remarkably good at being kids, threads get pulled, grass stains become permanent and there’s a fair chance it won’t even fit by the end of the season anyway.
In short, it’s likely your seven- or 10-year-old is going to trash this shirt, unless of course you marshall exactly when it’s worn. “TAKE THAT OFF IF YOU’RE DRINKING JUICE, WE DON’T NEED THAT ALL DOWN IT!” Hardly inspiring is it?
Although, maybe that does follow in their heroes’ steps and Wing gets told the same before his pre-match Spag Bol?
It is important to be fair here as Reading aren’t an outlier. We aren’t a club that’s decided to charge double of everyone else – we seem to be in the middle with prices between £45 and £60. Junior kit pricing has become a football-wide issue and, broadly speaking, Reading are operating in the same ballpark as many other clubs.
We’ve all seen the replica shirts that appear online at a fraction of the price. Some of them, if we’re being honest, are becoming remarkably difficult to tell apart from the official merch.
This isn’t me suggesting Reading should be selling junior shirts for £15 because that’s clearly ridiculous, but pricing matters, and you can understand why they appear.
I can’t help wondering how many parents would stomach paying £30 or £35 for an official shirt, knowing that money is going to the club, but simply can’t/won’t stretch to £50 plus any extras. Those aren’t customers who’ve been persuaded to spend more, they’re customers who’ve been priced out altogether, leaving the club with nothing.
One thing the owners have regularly spoken passionately about is community: families and the next generation of supporters getting closer to the club. They’re all things I genuinely believe the ownership care about.
For example, Rob Couhig has said before about the fireworks that, as much as he loves them, they’re there to get the little eyes to games more regularly – and that’s why kit pricing stings a little.
One of the very first interactions many young supporters have with their football club is asking mum, dad, nan, grandad, aunt or uncle for the shirt they’ve seen the players wearing. And for many families, the answer is likely going to be: “We can’t afford that.” Or: “Add it to your Christmas list!”
Years ago, football found itself having this exact conversation over away tickets.
Prices had crept higher and higher until supporters finally said enough was enough. The Twenty’s Plenty campaign wasn’t asking for free football, it wasn’t asking clubs to lose money, it was simply asking the game to remember who it was for.
It feels like we should be approaching that point with junior kits.
Reading had, and still have, an opportunity to be different. Not because they’re responsible for football’s pricing problem, but because they continually tell us we’re a family club, a community club, and as a club they want to inspire the next generation of Royals.
Sometimes living those values means doing something because it’s the right thing to do, not because everyone else is doing the same. And while I’m aware some will point to commercial output and generating revenue (well, I’m all for increasing commercial revenue), I’d like to think our route back up the leagues involves good recruitment, sensible management and selling a few players… rather than balancing the books on a 10-year-old wanting to look like Lewis Wing.
The new shirt is excellent and, hopefully, plenty of young Royals will wear it this season.
The reality though is that, for plenty of families, the conversation won’t be about whether they like the shirt, it’ll be about whether they can afford it.
Because when you really boil it all down, football – and Reading – are asking parents to pay £100+ for what is, at its heart, a child’s shorts, shirt and socks.
If that doesn’t feel uncomfortable, maybe they need to ask themselves why.
